The cross was blown away three times: the emergency condition of the temple in Zaraysk threatens people’s lives
[ad_1]
Our journalist witnessed a dangerous situation
The situation with the Holy Trinity Church in Zaraysk has reached the point of absurdity. The cross from the bell tower of the 18th century church was blown away by the wind, and it almost fell on the heads of local residents and tourists. “MK” witnessed a dangerous situation bordering on science fiction. However, it surprised the townspeople little. Local residents say that this is not the first time: “The cross is being blown away for the third time.” The unique “church with sunflowers” in the center of the ancient city was abandoned and is falling apart literally before our eyes.
– Look how the crosses sway like thin aspen trees in the wind. Now it’s going to blow away,” a colleague joked as we walked towards the Kremlin. However, on the way back it turned out that one of the temple crosses was no longer in its place. The wind blew it away. Jokes aside.
“Everything happened before my eyes: the cross flew down somewhere,” said a woman who sells pies next to the temple. She called the abbot, but even after several hours no one showed up. We walked around the temple, but the fallen cross was nowhere to be found. Maybe he fell through the ground or through the roof. It’s a miracle that I didn’t fly into the pedestrian street or the buses waiting for their flight in the bus station parking lot just under the arches of the temple. Local residents, it turns out, are already accustomed to such flights: they told MK that this is the third case in recent times. The temple has been abandoned for a long time. It has not operated as a place of worship since 1917. But from 1936 to 2014 it housed a museum, which then moved to a building on the territory of the Zaraisk Kremlin. And since then the temple has been empty, gradually fading.
And this despite the fact that the Church of the Holy Trinity is located in the very heart of Zaraysk, which is mentioned in the chronicles a year earlier than Moscow. However, people settled on the banks of the Sturgeon River much earlier than 1146; sites dating back 23 thousand years have been discovered here. The Church of the Holy Trinity is a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, where archaeological artifacts were found that became a sensation in the scientific world. Near the temple there are historical shopping arcades, the main square, museums and a bus station. That is, this place is one of the busiest and most touristy in the city of 20 thousand.
The stone temple in the Baroque style is called the “church with sunflowers” - for the interesting ornament of the drum under the main dome. Once upon a time there was a wooden church in its place, then another, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1774. Two years later, they began to build a stone church here, which was completed 12 years later. Initially, the church had only one chapel named after St. Nicholas. In 1808, another one was built in honor of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. At the same time, the refectory connected the temple and the separate bell tower. Since then, the appearance of the temple has changed little.
“For me, Zaraysk is a pain,” says historian and writer Oleg Fochkin. — My wife’s ancestral home is there, from the 1860s. The city has long become home. Church of the Holy Trinity with an interesting history. Back in 2014, there was a danger of the bell tower collapsing, which is why the passage of cars, primarily buses, was closed between the bell tower and the shopping arcades, which, by the way, were also in terrible condition (after the fire they were only just beginning to be restored. – MM.). Formally, the temple belongs to the Kolomna diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a cultural heritage site of regional importance, which, however, does not prevent it from slowly being destroyed. The elongated spire of the bell tower cross, emphasizing the height of the entire Baroque building, was installed in October 2016. This is probably the only thing that has happened since the museum moved from the temple.
Apparently the structure was poorly secured. But even after the heavy metal cross was blown away several times, they did not begin to strengthen it. It’s hard to say what happens to the interior now. In 1860, the temple burned and the iconostasis and paintings were destroyed. Ten years later, local artist Shumov painted a new iconostasis, and then the wall paintings were restored. The library at the church contained many interesting and valuable publications. The last restoration of the “church with sunflowers” was in the early 1960s, when it was occupied by a museum.
The old town of little Zaraysk could become an open-air museum. There is a historic house at every turn. True, only 90 buildings out of hundreds have protected status. Many of them are in a deplorable state, despite the fact that in the last couple of years they have been trying to put the city in order and turn it into a point of attraction for tourists. Just last year, Zaraysk lost a unique building – a miller’s house that belonged to Mikhail Sholokhov’s grandfather. “When the main street, square and water tower were being reconstructed, the house was shyly draped with netting, and there it collapsed. Although both local and Moscow local historians have spoken more than once about his salvation,” Fochkin explained. But the ancestral home of the author of “Quiet Don” fell apart quietly – without casualties. But the withering of the Holy Trinity Church can not only be a loss for culture and history, but also pose a danger to the lives of citizens and tourists.
Newspaper headline:
Dangerous cross of the trinity
[ad_2]
Source link
